The Analysis Of The Civil Liability For Animals’ Damage

Liability of the damage caused by raised animal is a special kind of tort liability. The published of the Tort of Law of our country, make the provisions of liability of raised animal more comprehensive. But in my opinion, some issues of this topic need to be more exhaustive. This paper first start from the conception of "domestic animal", then explored the responsibility principle, constitutive requirements of liabilities for damage caused by raised animal, the reparation body for animal damage, and the exemptions of this issue. This paper also made an in-depth analysis about the reasonable for the zoo animal damage to use the presumption of fault,By comparing the different notions of animal between the civil law and the common law, combined with our rules, the provisions of animal mainly refers to those animals which was being kept in a particular person or management, does not include wild animals.When to the responsibility principle about raising animals, tort liability law in our country mainly adopts the principle of strict liability, according to animal’s different kinds and the degree of seriousness, the strict liability principle is divided into two levels, the one to a lesser degree and the other to a heavier degree. Responsibility for damage caused by zoo animals is the presumption of fault principle. But the author thinks that, the zoos have many types, Principles should be based on the different nature of the zoo, then determine the different responsibility principles. It’s unfair to apply the presumption of fault principle uniformly for the zoo animal.As to the reparation body for animal damage, Chinese Tort Liability Act does not use the notion of owner, but the notion of animal’s keeper or manager. But our law does not point out the distinction between the keeper and manager. The author believes that, animal keeper is the one who feeding and control the animal, for his own interests, while manager just refers to the zoo or other organization. Sometimes the animal breeding people is not the owner, when the owner and the breeding people are in separation and the animal caused the damage to the interests of others, the actual animal keeper is liable for the animal damage, animal owners bear joint and several liability.In Chinese Tort Liability Law, the components of the liability for damage caused by the ordinary bred animals include:independent damage caused by the animal behavior, the damage of the rights and interests of others, and the causation relationship between them. Of cause, there are many animal type, their constitutive requirements are also different. According to their difference, in this paper, I also analyzed their different constitutions one by one.The mitigate subject and exemption to liabilities for the damage caused by raised ordinary animals regard to Chinese Tort Liability Law includes:the victim’s intentional or grossly negligence, the victim’s assumption of risk, the irresistible fore. The author then analyzed the different exemptions between different types of animal, and put forward my own opinion. For example, the author believe that, for the violate animal and the animal which are prohibit to keep, their manager and keeper have no exemptions, they can only claim the victim’s intentional or grossly negligent to diminish their responsibility.